V 



E457 



TEN CENT POCKET SERIES NO. 324 
Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius 



Life of 
Abraham Lincoln 

John Hugh Bowers 



= 457 
.B78 
Copy ^ 



HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY 
GIRARD, KANSAS 



TEN GENT POCKET SERIES NO. 324 

Edited by £. Haldeman- Julius 



Life of Abraham 
Lincoln 

John Hugh Bowers, Ph.D., LL.B. 

Dept. History and Social Sciences, 
State Teachers' College, Pittsburg, Kaas. 



HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY 
GIRARD, KANSAS 



. i,..r -I 



Copyright, 1922, 
Haldeman- Julius Company 



C1A688G69 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



The story of Lincoln, revealing how one 
American, by his own honest efforts, rose 
from the most humble beginning to the most 
high station of honor and worth, has in- 
spired millions and will inspire millions more. 
The log cabin in which he was born, the ax 
with which he split the rails, the few books 
with which he got the rudiments of an edu- 
cation, the light of pine knots by which ho 
studied, the flatboat on which he made the 
long trip to New Orleans, the slave mart 
at sight of which his sympathetic soul re- 
volted against the Institution of human 
slavery — these are all fraught with intense 
interest as the rude forces by which he 
slowly builded his great character. 

Great suffering taught him great sympa- 
thy. His great sympathy for men gave him 
great influence over men. As a lonely moth- 
erless little boy living in the pitiless poverty 
of the backwoods he learned both humility 
and appreciation. Then from a gentle step- 
mother he learned the beauty of kindness. 

As a clerk in a small store that failed, as 
a defeated candidate for the legislature, as 
Captain in the Black Hawk War, as student 
of Law in his leisure moments, as partner in 
a small store that failed, as Postmaster at 



6 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

1818 little Abraham's mother, delicate, refined, 
pathetic and too frail for such rude life, sick- 
ened and felt that the end was near. She 
called her little children to her bed of leaves 
and skins and told them to "love their kindred 
and worship God," and then she died and left 
them only the memory of her love. 

Thomas Lincoln made a rude coffin him- 
self, but there were no ceremonies at that 
most pathetic funeral when he laid his young 
wife in her desolate grave in the forest. Little 
Lincoln was nine years old, and the mystery 
of death, the pitiless winter, the lone grave, 
the deep forest — shivering with his sister in 
the cold cabin — it all made a deep impression 
on the sensitive boy. 

Late in the year 1819 Thomas Lincoln went 
back to Kentucky, and there courted and mar- 
ried a widow named Sarah Buck Johnston, 
who had once been his sweetheart. She brought 
with her some household goods and her own 
three children. She dressed the forlorn little 
Llncolns in some of the clothing belonging 
to her children. She was described as tall, 
straight as an Indian, handsome, fair, talka- 
tive and proud. Also she had the abundant 
strength for hard labor. She and little Abra- 
ham learned to love each other dearly. 

Abraham went to school in all less than a 
year, but this good stepmother encouraged 
him to study at home and he read every book 
he heard of within a circuit of many miles. He 
read the Bible, Aesop's Fables, Murray's Eng- 
lish Reader, Robinson Crusoe, The Pilgrim's 
Progress, A History of the United States. 



1.IFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 7 

Weem's Life of Washington and the Revised 
Statutes of Indiana. He studied by the fire- 
light and practiced writing with a pen made 
from a buzzard's quill dipped in ink made 
from brier roots. He practiced writing on 
the subjects of Temperance, Government, and 
Cruelty to Animals. The unkindness so often 
common to those frontier folks shocked his 
sensitive soul. He practiced speaking by imi- 
tating the itinerant preacher and by telling 
stories to any who would give him an audi- 
ence. He walked fifteen miles to Boonville 
to attend court and listen to the lawyers. 

At nineteen he was six feet and two inches 
tall, weighed one hundred and fifty pounds, 
had long arms and legs, slender body, large 
and awkward hands and feet, but not a large 
head. He is pictured as wearing coon-skin cap, 
linsey-woolsey shirt, and buckskin breeches 
that were often too short. He said that his 
father taught him to work but never taught 
him to love it — but he did work hard and with- 
out complaining. He was said to do much 
more work than any ordinary man at splitting 
rails, chopping, mowing, ploughing, doing 
everything that he was asked to do with all his 
might. It was at this age that he went on the 
first trip with a flat boat down to New Orleans. 
This was an interesting adventure; and there 
had been sorrows, also; his sister Sarah had 
married and died in child-birth. 

In the spring' of 1830 the roving spirit of 
Thomas Lincoln felt the call of the West and 
they set out for Illinois. John Hanks met 
them five miles northwest of Decatur in Ma- 



S LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOIjN 

con County, where on a bluff overlooking the 
muddy Sangamon they built a cabin, split 
rails, fenced fifteen acres and broke the 
prairie. Young Lincoln was twenty-one and 
free, but he remained at home during the 
summer, helping his father and his devoted 
step-mother to establish their new home. The 
followias winter he split the historic rails foi 
Mrs. Nancy Miller — "four hundred for every 
yard of jeans dyed with walnut juice neces- 
sary to make him a pair of trowsers," 

In th© spring, a pioneer adventurer, Denton 
Offut, engaged Abraham, with Hanks and one 
other helper, to take a boat load of provisions 
to New Orleans, for the wages of fifty cents a 
day and a bonus of sixty dollars for the three. 
Thi« amd the preceding trip down the river 
gave Lincoln the sight of slavery which caused 
him to say, "If ever I get a chance to hit that 
thing I'll hit it hard." 

New Salem was a very small village destined 
to be of only a few years duration. Here Offut 
erected a small general store and placed Lin- 
coln ia charge while Offut having other unim- 
portant business ventures went about the com- 
munity bragging that his clerk, Lincoln, was 
the best man in the country and would some 
day be president of the United States. Offut's 
boastiitg attracted the attention of the Clary's 
Grove boys, who lived near New Salem, and 
they determined upon a wrestling match be- 
tweeft Lincoln and their champion bully. Jack 
Armstrong. Lincoln did his best to avoid it, 
and a prominent citizen stopped the encounter. 
The result was that Armstrong and his gang 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 9 

e Lincoln's friends and later gave him 
Dst hearty political support at times when 
ipport of just such men as Armstrong 
\v 1 important political asset. 

During this time Lincoln continued, his 
studies, and feeling the need to study English 
Grammar he ransacked the neighborhood until 
he found trace of one some six miles away and 
walked over to buy or borrow it; brought it 
back in triumph and studied it exhaustively. 

About this tin "^ we have some narratives con- 
cerning his hoi ^sty that compare favorably 
with the story Washington and the cherry 
tree. While he vas keeping Offut's store a 
woman overpaid him four pence and when he 
found the mistake he walked several miles that 
evening to return the pennies before he slept. 
On arother occasion in selling a half pound of 
tea he discovered that he had used too small a 
weight and he hastened forth to make good the 
deficiency. Indeed one of his chief traits all 
his life was absolute honesty. 

He was chosen to pilot the first steamboat, 
the Talisman, up the Sangamon. At Spring- 
field they held a banquet to celebrate the event 
but Lincoln was not invited because they only 
invited the "gentlemen" and Lincoln was only 
the pilot. 

He spent all his spare time studying Law or 
History, and had been from his youth an ad- 
mirer of the romantic figure of Henry Clay. 
He adopted most of Clay's principles as his 
own, especially that of the gradual, compen- 
sated emancipation of slaves, to which ideal he 
clung all his life. With such interests, it was 



10 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

natural that when Offut failed and his job as 
store clerk ended, he should announce himself 
as a candidate for the legislature. His cam- 
paign was interrupted by the Black Hawk War. 
Lincoln volunteered. The Clary's Grove boys 
enlisted and elected him captain. He showed 
his kindness and courage when during the cam- 
paign he found his whole command, mutinous 
and threatening; and facing them he placed his 
own body between them and a poor friendly 
Indian, who, with safe conduct from General 
Cass, had taken refuge in camp. He saw no 
fighting and killed no Indians but was long 
afterward able to convulse Congress with a 
humorous account of his "war record." The 
war ended in time for him to get back and 
stump the county just before the election in 
which he was defeated. 

In partnership with a man named Berry they 
bought out the little store in New Salem; but 
Berry drank and neglected the business. Lin- 
coln was strictly temperate, but he spent all 
his spare moments studying Blackstone, a copy 
of which legal classic he had fortunately found 
in a barrel of rubbish he had obligingly bought 
from a poor fellow in trouble. 

With both members of the firm thus preoccu- 
pied the business "winked out." Berry died, 
leaving Lincoln the debts of the firm, twelve 
hundred dollars, — to him an appalling sum, 
which he humorously called "the national 
debt"; and on which he continued to make 
payments when he could for the next fifteen 
years. For a time he was postmaster of New 
Salem, an office so small that Andrew Jackson 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 11 

must have overlooked it. But the experience 
shows how scrupulous he always was ; for when 
years afterward a government agent came to 
Springfield to make settlement Lincoln drew 
forth the very coins that he had collected in 
the postoffice, and though he had sorely needed 
the loan of them he had never even borrowed 
them for temporary use. 

For a time he had a better position as 
Deputy Surveyor of Sangamon County. His 
work was accurate and he was doing well when 
in 1834 he again announced as a candidate for 
the legislature and was elected. 

At Vandalia at the session of the legisla- 
ture he first saw Stephen A. Douglas, then a 
lobbyist, and said of him, "He is the least man 
I ever saw." Lincoln at this session seemed 
to be learning, studying men and methods and 
prudently preparing for future success rather 
than endeavoring to seize opportunities pre- 
maturely. 

This is the\ time when Lincoln fell in love 
with Ann Rutledge, a beautiful young woman 
of New Salem who was already betrothed to 
another. The other lover went East and did 
not return. Lincoln had hopes, but Ann took 
sick and died of brain fever. He was allowed 
to see her as she lay near the end, and the 
effect upon his kindly nature was terrible. 
There settled upon him a deep despondency. 
That fall and winter he wandered alone in the 
woods along the Sangamon, almost distracted 
with sorrow. When he seemed on -the verge 
of insanity a friend, Bowling Green, took him 
to his own home and nursed him back to 



12 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

health, and the grief settled into that tempera- 
mental melancholy, which, relieved only by his 
humor, was part of the deep mystic there was 
in him, part of the prophet, the sadness that 
so early baptised him in the tragedy of life, and 
taught him to pity a suffering world. 

Again he ran for the legislature, announc- 
ing his policy: "for all sharing the privileges 
of the government who assist in bearing its 
burdens; for admitting all whites to the right 
of suffrage who pay taxes or bear arms (by no 
means excluding females). If elected, I shall 
consider the whole people of Sangamon as my 
constituents, as well those that oppose as 
those that support me. While acting as their 
representative I shall be governed by their 
will upon all subjects upon which I have the 
means of knowing what their will is; and upon 
all others I shall do what my own judgment 
teaches me will best advance their interests." 
He was always fundamentally democratic, was 
so close to the heart of humanity that he 
felt its mighty pulsations and knew intuitively 
what big people were thinking. His con- 
temporaries thought that he had a dependable 
occult sense of public opinion. 

One incident of this campaign shows Lin- 
coln's versatility at repartee. George Forquer, 
who had been a Whig, changed over to be a 
Democrat and was appointed Register of the 
Land Office. His house, the finest in Spring- 
field, had a lightning rod, the only one that 
Springfield had ever seen. At a meeting near 
Springfield, Lincoln spoke, and when he had 
finished, Forquer replied with some conde- 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 13 

ficension, calling Lincoln the "young man." 
Lincoln listened to the attack with folded arms 
and then made a spirited reply endmg with 
the words: "The gentleman calls me a young 
man. I am older in years than I am m the 
tricks and trades of politicians. I desire to 
live and I desire place and distinction, but I 
would rather die now than, like the gentleman, 
live to see the day that I would change my 
politics for an office worth three thousand dol' 
lars per year, and then feel compelled to erect 
a lightning rod to protect a guilty conscience 
from an offended God." 

The Whig ticket was elected, Lincoln lead- 
ing, and the Sangamon delegation, seven rep- 
resentatives and two senators all ove.' .i: icet 
tall were called the "Long Nine." At Vanda- 
lia Lincum was the leader of the Long Nine 
and labored to advance legislation for public 
improvements to be financed by the sale of 
public lands. He confided to a friend that he 
was dreaming of the Governorship and was 
ambitious to become the "DeWitt Clinton of 
Illinois." 

The Assembly voted for a colossal scheme 
of railroads and canals, and authorized a loan 
of twelve millions. These vast projects af- 
forded unlimited opportunities for special legis- 
lation and in all this atmosphere of manoeuvre 
Lincoln was most skillful. He knew human 
nature and how to handle it. Log-rolling was 
the order of the day and so skillfully did the 
Long Nine function that they succeeded in re- 
moving the capital from Vandalia to Spring- 
field. Though Lincoln did prove that he knew 



14 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

"the tricks and trades of tlae politician" he was 
true to his convictions; as shown by the fact 
that, when the legislature passed resolutions 
"highly disapproving" of the formation of abo- 
lition societies and the doctrines promulgated 
by them, he voted against the resolutions; and 
furthermore he drew up a protest against the 
resolutions, and inducing his colleague, Dan 
Stone, to sign it with him, had his protest 
entered on the journal for March 3, 1837. 
While this protest was cautiously worded it 
did declare "the , institution of slavery is 
founded upon injustice and bad policy." This 
was a real gratuitous expression of^ a worthy 
ideal contrary to self interest, for his con- 
stituents were at that time certainly not in 
any way opposed to slavery. It was only 
within a few months after this very time that 
the atrocious persecution and murder of Love- 
joy occurred in the neighboring town of Alton. 

When the Long Nine came home bringing the 
capital with them Springfield planned such a 
celebration as had not been seen since the 
day the Talisman came up the Sangamon. To 
this banquet Lincoln was not only invited but 
placed at the head of the board; having been 
only the pilot of th^ enterprise this time did 
not exclude him. He made a speech and made 
many friends in Springfield, The time was 
now opportune for him to move to Springfield. 
So in the year 1837, Abraham Lincoln, being 
twenty-eight years of age and a lawyer, packed 
his meager possessions in a pair of saddle- 
bags and moved to the new Capital, then a 
town of less than two thousand inhabitants. 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 15 

here to begin a new era in his life. Besides 
being very poor he still carried the burden of 
the "national debt" left to him from the failure 
of the partnership with Berry, but he had 
friends and a reputation for honesty. In time 
he pays the debt, and his friends Increase in 
numbers. 

The morning that Lincoln went Into the 
store of Joshua Speed in Springfield, and indi- 
cated that he was looking for a place to stay. 
Speed said: "The young man had the saddest 
face I ever saw." Speed indicated that Lin- 
coln could share Speed's own bed in a room 
above; Lincoln shambled up, dropped his sad- 
dle bags, shambled down again and said: 
"Well, Speed, I am moved." With John T. 
Stewart, his comrade in the Black Hawk cam- 
paign, he formed a law partnership. Lincoln 
and Stewart were both too much interested in 
politics to give their undivided devotion to 
the law. During their four years together 
they made a living, and had work enough to 
keep them busy but it was not of the kind 
that proved either very interesting or lucra- 
tive. 

He spent much time making public speeches 
on a variety of occasions and subjects, 
obviously practicing the art of eloquent ad- 
dress for his own improvement. In 1838 he 
was again elected to the legislature and was 
minority candidate for Speaker. 

Now Mrs. N. W. Edwards was one of the 
local aristocrats of Springfield, and her sister, 
Mary Todd from Kentucky, came to visit her. 
Mary Todd was beautiful and Lincoln and 



16 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Douglas were rivals for her hand. Observers 
at the time thought that with a brilliant and 
talented girl the graceful and dashing Douglas 
would surely be preferred. But Miss Todd 
made her own selection and she and Lincoln 
were engaged to b^ married on New Year's 
day, 1841. 

The day came and the wedding was not sol- 
emnized. Now there came upon him again that 
black and awful melancholy. He wandered 
about in utter gloom. To help him, his good 
friend Joshua Speed took him away to Ken- 
tucky for a trip. Upon his return a recon- 
ciliation with Mary Todd led to their marriage, 
November, 1842. To Lincoln's kindly manner, 
his considerateness and his self-control, she 
was the opposite. The rule "opposites attract" 
may explain the union, and if the marriage 
was not ideally happy it may be conjectured 
that one more happy might have interfered 
with that career for which Destiny was pre- 
paring him. 

In 1841, Stewart went to Congress and Lin- 
coln dissolved the partnership to form another 
with Judge Stephen T. Logan who was ac- 
counted the best lawyer in Illinois. Contact 
with Logan made Lincoln a more diligent stu- 
dent and an abler practitioner of the law. But 
two such positive personalities could not long 
work in harmony, so in 1843 Lincoln formed 
a partnership with William H. Herndon, a man 
of abolitionist inclinations who remained Lin- 
coln's junior partner until Lincoln's death and 
became his biographer. But they were very 
poor. The struggle was hard, and Lincoln and 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 17 

his bride were of necessity very frugal. In 
1841 he might have had the nomination for 
Governor, but he declined it; having .given up 
his ambition to become the "DeWitt Clinton 
of Illinois." It will be remembered that the 
internal improvement theories had not worked 
so well in practice. The panic of 1837 had 
convinced both him and his supporters of the 
unwisdom of attempting such improvements 
on too large a scale at one time. Though 
he had been mistaken he seems not to have 
lost the support of his followers, for they were 
mistaken with him; and the experience shows 
that "it is more popular for a politician to 
be with his constituents in the wrong than to 
be in the right against them." 

Though he declined the nomination for Gov- 
ernor, his ambitious wife encouraged his nat- 
ural inclination to keep his eye on the political 
field, and to glance in the direction of Con- 
gress. His ambitions were temporarily 
thwarted. On Washington's birthday in 1842, 
during the Washington Temperance movement 
he made a speech on temperance. While the 
whole address was admirable and conceived in 
a high humanitarian tone it did not please all. 
He was full of a wise and gentle tolerance 
that sprang alike from his knowledge and his 
love of men. 

When accused of being a temperance man 
he said "I don't drink." 

He was criticised, and because of this, and 
because his wife was an Episcopalian, and an 
aristocrat, and because he had once accepted a 
challenge to fight a duel, which friends pre- 



18 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

vented, his congressional ambitions had to be 
postponed. Also there were other candidates. 
He stood aside for Hardin and for Baker. In 
1844 he was on the Whig electoral ticket and 
stumped the state for Henry Clay whom he 
greatly admired. 

Finally in 1846 the Whigs nominated him 
for Congress. The Democrats nominated the 
pioneer Methodist preacher, Peter Cartwright, 
who used the Washington's birthday address 
against Lincoln and even the charge of athe- 
ism, which had no worthy foundation, for Lin- 
coln was profoundly religious, though he never 
united with any church. He said that when- 
ever any church would inscribe over its altar 
as the only condition for membership the 
words of Jesus; "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart and with all thy 
soul and with all thy strength, and thy neigh- 
bor as thyself;" he would join that church. 
Lincoln's life proved his sincerity in this state- 
ment. 

Lincoln made a thorough campaign, watching 
most carefully all the many interests which can 
contribute to the success of a candidate, and 
was elected by an unusual majority. Moreover, 
he was the only Whig who secured a place In 
the Illinois delegation that year. 

In 1847, when he took his seat in the thirtieth 
Congress, he saw there the last of the giants 
of the old days, — Webster, Calhoun, Clay and 
old John Quincy Adams, dying in his seat be- 
fore the session ended. There were also Andrew 
Johnson, Alexander H. Stephens and David 
Wilmot. Douglas was there to take his new 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 19 

seat in the Senate. The Mexican War was 
drawing to its close. The Whig party con- 
demned the war as one that had been brought 
on simply to expand slave territory. Generals 
Taylor and Scott as well as many other promi- 
nent army officers were Whigs. This fact aided 
materially in justifying the Whig policy of de- 
nouncing the Democrats for entering into the 
war and at the same time voting adequate sup- 
plies for the prosecution of the war. Lincoln 
entered heartily into this party policy. 

A few days after he had taken his seat in 
Congress he wrote back to Herndon a letter 
which closed humorously: "As you are all so 
anxious for me to distinguish myself I have 
concluded to do so before long." Accordingly, 
soon after he introduced a series of resolutions 
which became known as the "Spot Resolutions." 

These resolutions referred to the President's 
message of May 11, 1846, in which the President 
expressed the reasons of the administration for 
beginning the war and said the Mexicans had 
"invaded our territory and shed the blood of 
our own citizens on our own soil." Lincoln 
quoted these lines and then asked the President 
to state the "exact spot" where these and other 
alleged occurrences had taken place. While 
these resolutions were never acted upon, they 
did afford him an opportunity to make a 
speech; and he made a good speech; not of the 
florid and fervid style that had characterized 
some of his early efforts; but a strong, logical 
speech that brought out the facts and made a 
favorable impression, thus saving him from be- 
ing among the entirely unknown in the House. 



20 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

With reference to his future career a para- 
graph concerning Texas is here quoted. He 
says: "Any people, anywhere being inclined 
and having the power, liave the right to raise 
up and shake off the existing government, and 
form a new one that suits them better. This is 
a most valuable, a most sacred right, — a right 
which we hope and believe is to liberate the 
world. Nor is this right confined to a case in 
which the v/hole people of an existing govern- 
ment choose to exercise it. Any portion of such 
people, that can, may revolutionize, and make 
their own of so much of the territory as they 
inhabit." This political philosophy, so com- 
fortably applisd to Texas in 1846, is just what 
the Confederacy wished in 1861; and just 
exactly what Lincoln did not wish in 1861. 

As Lincoln knew all along, his course con- 
cerning the war and the administration was 
displeasing some of his constituents; some of 
whom would rather be warlike than to bo right, 
others honestly favored expansion. Like most 
of the other Whigs he had voted for the Ash- 
mun amendment which said that the :var had' 
been "unnecessary and unconstitutionally com- 
menced by the President." He learned that 
some of the people of Springfield v/ould be dis- 
pleased with an attitude that seemed to weaken 
the administration in a time of stress, but with 
Lincoln it was a matter of conscience and he 
met it fairly without evasion or any 5ort of 
coloring. And later when Douglas accused him 
of being unpatriotic he replied that he had not 
chosen to skulk, that he had voted for what he 
thought was tlie truth, and also reminded his 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 21 

hearers that he had always voted with the rest 
of the Whigs for the necessary supplies to carry 
on the war after it had been commenced. He 
would have liked renomination, but Judge 
Logan was nominated and v/as not elected. 

He was on the electoral ticket and stumped 
New England and Illinois for Taylor, as soon 
as Congress adjourned. The New England 
speeches were full of moral earnestness. la 
Boston he heard Governor Seward speak and 
said: "I reckon you are right. We have got 
to deal with this slavery question and give 
more time to it hereafter than we have been 
giving." In December he went back to Wash- 
ington for the second session and worked con- 
sistently for the Wilmot Proviso, designed to 
exclude slavery from territory acquired from 
Mexico. At this second session he voted against 
a bill to exclude slavery from the District of 
Columbia, because he did not like the form of 
the bill and then introduced a measure him- 
self designed to serve the same purpose. 

When his term as Congressman expired he 
sought but failed to obtain the position of Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office. He waa 
offered the position of Governor of the newly 
organized territory of Oregon, but this, due 
somewhat to the sensible advice of his wife, he 
declined. Then he went back to Sprmgfield to 
practice law again, and to travel the muddy 
roads of the old Eighth Circuit, a somewhat 
disappointed and disillusioned man; but as 
ever the same sincere,, kindly brother to all his 
fellow men. 

During the years from 1850 to 1860 the tall 



22 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

figure of Lincoln, garbed in black, continued 
to be familiar to the people of Springfield, as 
he strode along the street between his dingy- 
law office on the square and his home on 
Eighth Street. He was clean in person and in 
dress, and diligent in his law practice, but he 
was not good at collecting what was coming 
to him; badly as he needed money in those 
days. He had finally paid off his debts, but 
the death of his father had left his devoted 
stepmother needing some help; and his shift- 
less stepbrother to be expostulated with in let- 
ters full of very kindly interest and wholesome 
advice. 

He worked hard and was rapidly becoming 
known as an excellent lawyer. He made friends 
of the best men in the state, and they referred 
to him affectionately as "Honest Abe" or "Old 
Abe," but they always addressed him respect- 
fully as "Mr. Lincoln." His humor, never 
peccant, was related to his brooding melan- 
choly, and was designed to smooth out the lit- 
tle rough places in life, which he so well un- 
derstood, with all its tragedies and tears. Men 
loved him, not alone for his stories, but for his 
simplicity of life, his genuine kindness, his 
utter lack of selfishness. There was a fascina- 
tion about his personality. He seemed some- 
how mysterious and at the same time simple. 
In fact he was always trying to make ideas 
seem simple and clear, and told stories to ac- 
complish that purpose. He tried to make the 
case clear to the jury, and the issues clear to 
his hearers. In all his life which had ever ita 
heavy sorrows, these years were probably the 



LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN 23 

brightest for him. He enjoyed the confidence 
of his people and the devotion of his friends. 
His fellow men of whatever degree in life, 
judge, lawyers, witnesses, jurors, litigants, all 
gathered affectionately around him to hear him 
talk and to tell stories. But he was not a mere 
story teller. His conversation was such as to 
draw men to him for its very worth. He was 
fundamentally serious, dignified, and never 
given to uncouth familiarities. 

Though so notably kind, so deeply sympa- 
thetic, and at times so given to humor, when 
he was aroused he was terrible in his firmness, 
his resolution to win for the cause that was 
right, his stern rebuke for injustice, his merci- 
less excoriation of falsehood and his relentless 
determination to see the truth prevail. False 
or careless witnesses dreaded his cross-examina- 
tions, and his opponents dreaded his effective- 
ness in handling a case before a jury. 

Though he was called homely, there was a 
commanding dignity about his presence; his 
appearance Inspired confidence; and when in 
the heat and passion of forensic effort, his fea- 
tures lighted up with a strange and compelling 
beauty and attractiveness. He was never petty, 
never quibbled and never tried to gain an unfair 
advantage or even use an unworthy means of 
attaining a worthy end. Consequently courts and 
juries believed what he said. He was a poor 
lawyer when on the wrong side of the case, and 
vv^ould not take a bad case if he knew it. Upon 
one occasion, when, in the very midst of a trial, 
he discovered that his client had acted fraudu- 
lently, he left the courtroom and when the 



24 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Judge sent for him, he sent word back that he 
"had gone to wash his hands." He had too 
much human sympathy to be the most effec- 
tive prosecutor unless there was a clear case of 
justice on his side; and he was too sympathetic 
to make money — for his charges were so small 
that Herndon and the other lawyers and even 
the judge expostulated with him. Though his 
name appears in the Illinois Reports in one 
hundred and seventy-three cases, — a record 
givin? him first rank among the lawyers of 
the state, his income was probably not much 
over two or three thousand a year. And he 
was engaged in some of the most important 
cases in the state, such as Illinois Central Rail- 
road Company v. The County of McLean, in 
which he was retained by the railroad and suc- 
cessfully prevented the taxation of land ceded 
to the railroad by the State, — and then had to 
sue to recover his modest fee of five thousand, 
which was the largest he ever received. In the 
McCormick reaper patent litigation he was en- 
gaged with Edwin M. Stanton, who treated him 
with discourtesy in the Federal Court at Cin- 
cinnati, called him "that giraffe," and prevented 
him from delivering the argument which he 
had so carefully and solicitously prepared. Suck 
an experience was, of course, very painful to 
his sensitive nature, and it shows how great 
he was that he could forgive the injury entirely 
as he did later when he appointed Stanton as 
his Secretary of War, desoite the protest of 
friends who recalled it all to him. 

Ih one of his most notable murder cases he 
defended William or "Duff" Armstrong, the son 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 25 

Of his old friend, Jack Armstrong. It was a 
desperate case for William and for his mother 
Hannah, who had also been a warm friend id 
Lincoln when he was young. The youth was 
one of the wildest of the Clary's Grove boys, 
and a prosecuting witness told how, by the light 
of the moon, he saw the blow struck. Lincoln 
subjected the witness to one of his dreadful 
cross-examinations and then confronted him 
with the almanac of the year in which the 
crime was committed to show that the moon 
kad set at the hour at which the witness 
claimed to have seen the blow struck by Arm- 
strong. The boy was acquitted and Lincoln 
would accept no fee but the tears and grati- 
tude of his old friends. 

Another interesting case was one in which a 
principal witness was the aged Peter Cartright 
who had more than ten years before waged a 
campaign against Lincoln for Congress. Cart- 
right was the grandfather of "Peachy" Harrison 
who was charged with the murder of Greek 
Crafton. It was a dramatic moment when the 
old Methodist minister took the stand in front 
of Lincoln, and as his white head bowed, Lin- 
coln had him tell how, as Greek Crafton lay 
dying, among his last words were "I want you 
to say to the man who killed me that I forgive 
him." After such a dying declaration and such 
a scene Lincoln was sure to make a speech that 
would move the hearts of any jury with pity 
and forgiveness such as he himself always felt 
for all souls in trouble; and Harrison was ac- 
quitted. It was such experiences at the bar 
that made him the great lawyer that he was; 



26 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

and the great advocate of whatever he believed 
to be right; and prepared him to win the great 
cause of humrinity before the whole people of 
the nation and of the world. 

In 1852 Lincoln campaigned for Scott. In 
1854 he seemed to be losing interest in politics 
when the news of the abrogation of the Mis- 
souri Compromise aroused him. This had been 
brought about by Douglas, the new leader of 
the Democrats, then one of the most influential 
men in Congress, and after the days of Webster, 
Clay and Calhoun, one of the foremost politi- 
cians in America. Douglas came back to Illi- 
nois to find many of his constituents in the 
North displeased with what they thought he 
had done to please the Democrats of the South. 
They thought that he was sacrificing the ideal 
of limiting slavery in order to advance his am- 
bitions to become President. He set about to 
win back his state. He spoke in" Springfield; 
and a few days later, Lincoln replied in a 
speech that delighted his friends and convinced 
them that in liim they had a champion afire 
with enthusiasm for the cause of freedom. 

Somewhat against his will he was nominated 
and elected to the legislature xA the fall of 1854, 
but when he saw the dissatisfaction in the 
Democratic party he was encouraged to resign 
from the legislature and become a candidate 
for the United States Senate. The Democrats, 
though not in perfect harmony, had a majority, 
and he could not be elected, but helped to turn 
the tide for the revolting faction of the Demo- 
crats. Though disappointed he knew that the 
struggle was only begun. 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 27 

The nation was aroused over the question of 
slavery. While many good people desired peace 
rather than agitation concerning such an irri- 
tating problem, the question of slavery in the 
territories had to be decided and the whole 
question of slavery would not down. In 1856 
the Republican party was organized for the 
state of Illinois in a big convention at Bloom- 
ington at which Lincoln made a strong speech; 
and in the Republican National Convention 
held in Philadelphia a few weeks later he was 
given 110 votes for Vice-President. He was 
committed to the new Republican party and 
campaigned vigorously for Fremont, their can- 
didate for President. 

Lincoln's enthusiastic friends said he was 
already on the track for the Presidency. As 
the contest of 1858 for the Senate approached, 
It again appeared that the Democrats would 
be divided and Lincoln had some confidence 
of success. Out in Kansas the proslavery men, 
by an unfair vote, had adopted the Lecompton 
Constitution favoring slavery; President Bu- 
chanan urged Congress to admit Kansas with 
that fraudulent constitution; Douglas opposed 
that constitution and voted against the admis- 
sion of Kansas as a slave state; thus angering 
the President and the South and delighting 
the Republicans of the North. 

Now the time was approaching when, in the 
1859 session of the Illinois legislature, Douglas 
would have to stand for re-election to the 
United States Senate. The legislators would 
be chosen in the campaign of 1858 largely on 
that issue. Douglas had become the foremost 



28 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

man in the Democratic party, and any man 
who could beat him would have national recog- 
nition. The Republicans of Illinois nominated 
Lincoln, who challenged Douglas to a series 
of joint debates. 

The famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates are full 
of interest and repay a full and careful study, 
but they will be treated very briefly in this 
volume. 

Lincoln entered upon these debates in a 
lofty spirit and to the end pursued a high 
course, fraught with kindness, fairness, mag- 
nanimity and most commendable dignity. He 
said, "While pretending no indifference to 
earthly honors, I do claim, in this contest, to 
be actiia'ed by something higher than anxiety 
for office," and apparently he was. 

Lincoln looked into the future and foresaw 
the coming campaign of 1860 for the Presidency. 
He foresaw that Douglas would be the leader 
of the Democrats in that campaign and con- 
ducted the debate accordingly. 

Lincoln thought not alone of momentary is- 
sues, but also of eternal verities. Some things 
which his friends wished him not to say, for 
fear it would lose him votes, he said, because 
they were things that were true and ought to 
be said: for example, "This nation cannot en- 
dure half slave and half free ... A 
house divided against itself cannot stand. 
. I do not expect the house to fall. 
. I do not expect the Union to be dis- 
solved. I do expect it to cease to be divided. 
It will become all one thing or all the other. 
Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the 



LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN 29 

further spread of it and place it where in the 
public mind it is in the course of ultimate 
extinction; or its advocates will push it until 
it will become alike lawful in all the states, 
old as well as new, North as well as South." 
"While such utterances probably did cost him 
votes at the time, later his people could see 
that his prophetic vision had been right and 
their confidence in him, always strong, was 
accordingly increased. 

Lincoln, with the training of the lawyer, the 
wily cross-examiner, the profound jurist, the 
farsighted statesman, forced Douglas into a 
dilemma between the northern Democrats of 
Illinois and the southern Democrats of the 
slave states. Lincoln was warned by his friends 
that Douglas would probably choose to please 
the Democrats of Illinois and be elected United 
States Senator; but Lincoln replied to his 
friends: "I am after larger game: the battle 
of 1860 is worth a hundred of this." Time 
proved that Lincoln was right. While Lincoln's 
friends guessed wisely as to the prediction that 
Douglas would choose to secure the Senator- 
ship by pleasing the Democrats of Illinois, 
many of whom were opposed to slavery, Lin- 
coln was wise in his prediction concerning the 
effect on the campaign of 1860 for President. 

For example, one of the questions Lincoln 
asked was: "Can the people of a United States 
Territory, in any lawful way, against the wishes 
of any citizen of the United States, exclude 
slavery from its limits prior to the formation 
of a state constitution?" If Douglas should 
answer, "No," he would alienate Illinois; and 



30 LIFE OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

if he should answer "Yes," he would alienate 
the South. In a remarkably adroit manner 
Douglas answered, "Yes," and delighted his 
friends in Illinois; but later the effect in the 
South was clearly against him. 

In the Unitd States Senate Douglas had 
proved a match for the best debaters in the 
land, but he remarked after his series of de- 
bates with Lincoln that in all his sixteen years 
in the Senate he had not met one whom he 
would not rather eacounter than Lincoln. 

To the very end of the debate Lincoln kept 
the argument pitched on a very high plane of 
dignified logical search for clear truth; which 
was something unusual in political contests. 
He kept referring to such ideas as, "Is slav- 
ery right or wrong?" "It is the eternal strug- 
gle between right and wrong." Lincoln was 
pleading for humanity. 

The debates were continued in seven of the 
largest cities of the states, and between the 
joint engagements the protagonists were speak- 
ing daily under circumstances of great strain. 
The prestige of being a Senator gave to Doug- 
las comforts of travel not always accorded 
to Lincoln and at the end of the campaign he 
was worn out. When the election was over the 
popular vote was very close, but the members 
of the legislature gave Douglas a majority and 
he was returned to the Senate. But the cam- 
paign split the Democratic party and made 
Lincoln a national figure. 

Lincoln, tired and disappointed and finan- 
cially embarrassed by his personal expenses, 
could still cheer his friends with a joke. He 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 31 

said, "I am like the boy that stumped his toe — 
it hurt too bad to laugh, but he was too big to 
cry." He added, "However, I am glad I made 
the race. It gave me a hearing on the great 
and durable question of the age which I could 
have had in no other way; and though I shall 
now sink from view and be forgotten, I believe 
that I have made some marks for the cause 
of civil liberty which will endure long after I 
am gone." 

But he was not to be forgotten. He received 
ongratulations from all parts of the nation. 
He got many calls to come and speak in the 
largest cities, most of which he declined, be- 
cause he must return to his law practice and 
earn some money. However, when Douglas ap- 
peared in the Gubernatorial contest in Ohio, 
the temptation was too great, and he accepted 
calls to reply in Columbus and Cincinnati be- 
fore very large audiences. He also accepted a 
call to speak in Cooper Union Institute in New 
York City, where he delivered a notable speech 
before a large and distinguished audience pre- 
sided over by William Cullen Bryant. Lincoln 
says that he felt uncomfortable and "imagined 
that the audience noticed the contrast between 
his western clothes and the neat fitting suits 
of Mr. Bryant and others who sat on the plat- 
form." He spoke with great earnestness, and 
the next day in the Tribune, Horace Greeley 
said: '*'No other man ever made such an im- 
pression in his first appeal to a New York 
audience." From New York he went on a 
speaking trip through New England where he 
made a deep impression. He went home with 



32 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

a national reputation. The strange story of 
his early life appealed to the masses of the 
people of the North; he was the subject of con- 
versation and of inquiry. A friend sought data 
for a biography. 

He said, "I admit that I am ambitious and 
that I would like to be President. I am not 
insensible to the compliment that you pay me 
and the interest that you manifest in the mat- 
ter, but there is no such good luck in store for 
me as the Presidency of the United States. 
Besides, there is nothing in my early history 
that would interest you or anybody else." He 
also added, "I do not think that I am fitted for 
the Presidency"; and that, "men like Seward 
and Chase were entitled to take precedence." 
But the editor of the Central Illinois Gazette 
brought him out and after that the movement 
spread strongly. 

Such friends as Davis, Sweet, Logan and 
Palmer and also his faithful partner, Herndon, 
continued to urge him to become an active 
candidate. He finally consented and became 
busy at the work of marshalling the support 
of his friends. He used all his well-known 
skill as a politician to forward his campaign, 
though nothing derogatory is to be inferred 
from these words concerning his methods, 
which were entirely honorable. He wrote a 
friend: "I am not in a position where it would 
hurt me much not to be nominated on the 
national ticket; but it would hurt me not to 
get the Illinois delegation . . . can you 
help me a little in this matter at your end of 
the vineyard?" The allegiance of his own state 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 33 

was soon assured. At Decatur, May 9 and 10, 
1860, the Republican state convention met in 
the big Wigwam, and Governor Oglesby, who 
presided, said, "A distinguished citizen whom 
Illinois is delighted to honor is present and 
should be invited to a place on the platform." 
Amid tumultuous applause Lincoln was lifted 
over the heads of the crowd to the platform. 
At that moment John Hanks theatrically en- 
tered bearing a couple of old fence rails and a 
flag and a placard on the rails, "Made in 
Sangamon bottom in 1830 by Abraham Lincoln 
and John Hanks." Again there was a sympa- 
thetic uproar and Lincoln made a speech ap- 
propriate for the occasion. When the tumult 
subsided the convention resolved that "Abra- 
ham Lincoln is the first choice of the Republi- 
cans of Illinois for the Presidency and their 
delegates are instructed to use every honorable 
means to secure his nomination, and to cast 
the vote of the state as a unit for him." 

One week later, May 16, the national Repub- 
lican convention met at Chicago in the "Wig- 
wam," which had been built to hold ten thou- 
sand persons. Lincoln's friends, Davis, Judd, 
Palmer, Swett, Oglesby, were there working 
"like nailers," night and day without sleep. 
The candidates were Seward of New York, 
Lincoln of Illinois, Cameron of Pennsylvania, 
Chase of Ohio, Bates of Missouri; and others 
of less note. Seward's friends hoped, as Lin- 
coln's friends dreaded, that Seward might be 
nominated by a rush on the first ballot. Lin- 
coln's followers, contrary to his wishes, made 
a "necessary arrangement" with Cameron of 



34 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Pennsylvania by which he was to have a cab- 
inet place in return for giving his support to 
Lincoln, who was nominated on the third bal- 
lot. William M. Evarts, who had led lor Se- 
ward, made the usual motion to make the 
choice unaminous, which was done with tre- 
mendous tumult of applause. Hannibal Hamlin 
of Maine was nominated for Vice-president. 
Blaine says of Hamlin, "In strong common 
sense, in sagacity and sound judgment, in 
rugged integrity of character, Mr. Hamlim has 
had no superior among public men." 

Down in Springfield, Lincoln was waiting, 
and when he got the news, he said, "There is 
a little woman down on Eighth Street who will 
be glad to hear this news," and he strode away 
to tell ker. 

Douglas was in Washington when he heard 
tke news, and remarked, "There will not be a 
tar barrel left in Illinois tonight." 

At once a committee of the convention were 
deputed to go to Springfield and give Lincoln 
formal notice. This ceremony, so elaborate in 
later days, was then very simple and immedi- 
ate. They called upon Lincoln at his own home, 
where he was already feeling gloomy with the 
responsibility. The committee felt muck mis- 
giving as they noted his appearance and got 
their first impressions; but later, when he 
became aroused and spoke fitting words to 
which life were added by the fire of his earnest 
countenance, they felt reassured, and went 
away deligkted. 

In all tke history of America, the selection 
of George Washington to lead the army of the 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 35 

Revolution, is the only event to be compared 
in good fortune with this nomination of Abra- 
ham Lincoln; but to the country as a whole 
he was comparatively obscure and unknown. 
The "wise men" of the nation had some mis- 
givings. While "Honest Abe, the rail splitter," 
might sound well to the masses, the party 
leaders could not be assured that rail splitting 
and mere honesty were sufficient qualifications 
for the President of a great republic in a great 
crisis. Nevertheless Seward and Chase sup- 
ported him with a sincerity that delighted him, 
and the entire party entered into the campaign 
with great enthusiasm. 

And very early in the campaign it seemed 
that the Republicans were quite likely to win; 
for the Democrats, in their convention at 
Charleston, divided; the Northern Democrats 
being for Douglas and the Southern Democrats 
against him. They adjourned to Baltimore, 
where Douglas was nominated, after which the 
extreme Southerners bolted and nominated 
Breckenridge. Also the border states organized 
a new party which they called the Constitu- 
tional Union Party and nominated John Bell. 

Douglas made a most energetic campaign, 
even making speeches in the South, but the 
Questions that Lincoln had made him answer 
in the great debate in Illinois in 1858 were not 
forgotten by the Southerners, who would have 
nothing to do with him, but supported Breck- 
enridge. 

Lincoln remained quietly in Springfield dur- 
ing the campaign, exercising most careful dis- 
cretion as to what he said and the little that 



36 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

he wrote. The Governor placed his own rooms 
at the statehouse at Lincoln's disposal, where 
he met callers and talked and joked pleasantly 
with all who came, but was careful to say- 
nothing that would add to the confusion of 
tongues that already existed. 

Some of the most radical abolitionists of 
the North were not at all pleased with Lincoln 
because he was conservative, practical, recog- 
nized slavery as existing under the constitu- 
tion, stood for preserving the Union as the 
first consideration, restricting the extension of 
slavery, and hoped for gradual compensated 
emancipation, but favored nothing revolution- 
ary or threatening to the integrity of the Union. 

Many of the most ardent, but reasonable, 
abolitionists supported him as having the most 
practical policy for the time being. 

The total popular vote was 4,680,000. Lincoln 
got 1,866,000; Douglas, 1,375,000; Breckenridge, 
846,900; Bell, 590,000. Of the electoral vote, 
Lincoln got 180; Douglas, 12; Breckenridge, 72; 
Bell, 39. Lincoln carried the Northern States, 
Breckenridge the Southern States, Bell the 
border states of Virginia, Kentucky and Tenn- 
essee, and Douglas New Jersey and Missouri. 
To show how the people were divided, Douglas, 
Breckenridge and Bell had some votes in nearly 
all states both North and South. Lincoln had 
no votes in the states farthest south, but car- 
ried all states north of the border states. 

The career of Lincoln as President was made 
infinitely more difficult as well as all the more 
creditable to him by reason of the fact that he 
was not the choice of the majority of the peo- 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 37 

pie, but of less than half of them; even less 
than half of the people of the Northern States. 

South Carolina "hailed with delight" the 
news of the election of Lincoln as a justifica- 
tion for immediate secession, which they de- 
sired, rather than compromise or postpone- 
ment; their Senators resigned; before Christ- 
mas the Palmetto flag floated over every fed- 
eral building in that state, and early in January 
they fired on the ship "Star of the V/est" as 
she entered Charleston harbor with supplies 
for Fort Sumpter. By February seven of the 
Southern States — South Carolina, Mississippi, 
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and 
Texas — had seceded from the Union and formed 
"the Confederate States of America," with 
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as President, and 
Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia as Vice- 
President. 

Lincoln could, meanwhile, only wait in 
Springfield, during this most trying inter- 
regnum; while the uncertain and impotent 
Buchanan allowed the reins of government to 
slip from his weak hands, and many influen- 
tial men at the North counselled for peace at 
any price. Lincoln was distressed, absent- 
minded, sad but also calm as he worked on 
his inaugural address — a tremendous respon- 
sibility under the circumstances; for in that 
address he must announce a policy in one of 
the gravest crises that ever confronted a ruler 
in this world — sorrowful unto death, he said, 
"I shall never be glad any more." Also he was 
beset with office-seekers and troubled with his 
cabinet appointments; for the agreement that 



?.S LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Judge Davis had made at the Chicago con- 
vention with Cameron of Pennsylvania was not 
to his liking. 

As the time approached for his inauguration 
he visited his step-mother, made a pilgrimage 
to the grave of his father, and on February 11 
started for Washington, after taking leave at 
Springfield, of his old friends, who gathered 
at the station early in the morning and stood 
bareheaded in the rain while he spoke these 
beautiful words of affectionate farewell from 
the platform of the coach: 

"My friends, no one not in my situation can 
appreciate my feelings of sadness at this part- 
ing. To this place and the kindness of these peo- 
ple I owe everything. Here I have lived for 
a quarter of a century and passed from a 
young man to an old man. Here my children 
have been born and one is buried. I now 
leave, not knowing when or whether ever I 
may return, with a task before me greater 
than that which rested upon Washington. With- 
out the assistance of that Divine Being who 
ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With 
that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting to Him 
who can go with me, and remain with you, and 
be everywhere for good, let us confidently 
hope that all will yet be well. To His care 
commending you, as T hope in your prayers 
you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate 
farewell." 

On the way he made short informal speeches 
— tactfully avoiding any announcement of pol- 
icy—at Columbus, Cleveland, Buffalo, Albany 
and New York. On Washington's birthday at 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 30 

Philadelphia, he celebrated the admission of 
Kansas as a free state by raising over Inde- 
pendence Hall a new flag of thirty-four stars- 
He was deeply moved and spoke fervently of 
"that sentiment in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence which gives liberty, not alone to the 
people of this country, but also hope to all the 
people of the world for all future times; which 
gave promise that in due time the weights 
would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, 
and that all should have an equal chance." 
And finally, "If this country cannot be saved 
without giving up that principle, I was about 
to say I would rather be assassinated on this 
spot than to surrender it." 

His reference to assassination may have 
been due to the report of detectives that they 
had discovered a plot to kill him as he went 
through Baltimore. Contrary to advice con- 
cerning his personal safety, he kept his en- 
gagement to address the legislature at Harris- 
burg before going on to Washington. In the 
Capital and the country thereabout were many 
Confederate sympathizers. 

Even during the few days that he was in 
Washington before his inauguration, men over 
the country were betting that he would never 
be inaugurated. March 4, 1861, dawned in 
bright sunshine. At noon the aged Buchanan 
called upon Lincoln to escort him to the Cap- 
ital, there to place upon the shoulders of the 
great Westerner the burden which had been 
too heavy for the infirm old diplomat. To- 
gether they drove down Pennsylvania Avenue 
to the Capitol where the ceremony was held 



4d LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

ia the east portico. Distinguished officials 
were there, but the crowd was small, because 
of the runi,ors of tragedy — and the aged Com- 
mander Scott had posted troops with instruc- 
tions, "if any of them raise their heads or 
show a finger, shoot to kill." 

Th» moment came for the new President to 
take the oath of office. Lincoln, attired in 
clothes obviously new, was plainly embar- 
rassed, and stood for an awkward moment 
holding his high hat in one hand and in the 
other a gold-headed ebony stick. Douglas, his 
old riral, stepped promptly forward with de- 
lightful grace and relieved him of hat and cane 
and held them for him — a beautiful incident the 
significance of which was long remembered. 
Senator Baker of Oregon — one of his old 
Springfield friends — formally presented him, 
and after he had read his address, the aged 
Chief Justice Taney, who had written the Dred 
Scott Decision, administered the oath of 
office. 

His address, for which the nation had long 
been waiting, was read distinctly, so that all 
could hear — hear him say that "misunderstand- 
ings had caused differences;" — disavow any 
Intentions to interfere with the existing insti- 
tution of slavery, and even declare himself 
in favor of a new fugitive slave law. But con- 
cerning the Union he was firm. He clearly 
put the Union above any issue concerning 
slavery. He said: "The Union of these States 
is perpetual. ... No state upon its own mere 
motion can lawfully get out of the Union, . . . 
I shall take care, as the Constitution itself 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 41 

expressly enjoins me, that the laws of the 
Union be faithfully executed in all of the 
States," and he was determined "to hold, 
occupy, and possess the property and places 
belonging to the Government and to collect the 
duties and imposts." And he closed with the 
beautiful peroration founded upon one of 
Seward's suggestions: "I am loathe to close. 
We are not enemies, but friends. We must 
not be enemies. Though passion may have 
strained, it must not break the bonds of our 
affection. The mystic chords of memory, 
stretching from every battlefield and patriot 
grave to every living heart and hearthstone 
all over this broad land, will yet swell the 
chorus of the Union when again touched, as 
surely they will be, by the better angels of 
our nature." 

The four years and forty days that remain 
of Lincoln's life is but the story of his wonder- 
ful part in our great Civil War. 

When Lincoln turned from his inauguration 
to take up the duties of his office he faced a 
responsibility greater than that which had 
rested upon Washington, as great as had ever 
rested upon any man on this planet in all the 
ages. His own dear country — that nation 
which lovers of mankind had hoped would lead 
the world in advancing human welfare, was 
already rent asunder and everywhere the men 
who had been accustomed to lead in thought 
and action were divided. Men of influence at 
the North advised peaceful separation. Radi- 
cals at the South declared that they would 
take Washington and make it the Confederate 



42 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Capital. Prominent men at the North declared 
that the South could not be and should not be 
coerced. And with these terrible problems 
puzzling him, Lincoln was also pestered with 
office-seekers until he remarked, "This strug- 
gle and scramble for office will yet test our 
institutions." For his Cabinet he chose Wil- 
liam H. Seward, Secretary of State; Salmon 
P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon 
Cameron, Secretary of War; Gideon Wells, 
Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith, Secre- 
tary of the Interior; Edward Bates, Attorney- 
General; Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-Gen- 
eral. 

The first day after inauguration the whole 
problem was presented to him in a letter from 
Major Anderson with his hungry soldiers at 
Fort Sumpter. He wanted provisions and re- 
inforcements; twenty thousand soldiers would 
be necessary to hold the fort, and the whole 
standing army numbered sixteen thousand 
men. General Scott advised evacuation. Lin- 
coln said, "When Anderson goes out of Fort 
Sumpter I shall have to go out of the White 
House." The military advisers differed: the 
cabinet differed; and while Lincoln pondered 
over the problem, Seward acquiesced in the 
general assumption that he rather than Lin- 
coln was the real head of the Government; and 
accordingly prepared and laid before Lincoln 
"Some Thoughts for the President's Consid- 
eration," in which after complaining of the 
"lack of policy" he boldly proposed to make 
war on Spain and France, and seek "explana- 
tions from Great Britain and Russia," and sug- 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 43 

gested that the direction of this policy be de- 
volved by the President "upon some member 
of his cabinet," and indicating with modest 
significance "it is not my especial province; 
but I neither seek to assume or evade respon^ 
sibility." Lincoln met this proposal in a 
magnanimous spirit, saying, "As to the pro- 
posed policy, if this must be done I must do 
it. . . . When a general line of policy is 
adopted, I apprehend that there is no danger 
of it being changed without good reason, or 
continuing to be a subject of unnecessary de- 
bate; still, upon points arising in its progress 
I wish, and suppose that I am entitled to have, 
the advice of all the cabinet." 

Thus Seward came to understand, as the na- 
tion later understood, who was the head of 
the government, and how wise and capable he 
was; and this superiority, Seward was great 
enough to freely acknowledge two months later 
in the words: "Executive force and vigor are 
rare qualities. . . . the President is the best 
of us." 

On April 12 the Confederates fired on Fort 
Sumpter, and by that act of aggression uni- 
fied and aroused the North. Douglas promptly 
assured the President of his support and tele- 
graphed his followers that he had given his 
pledge "to sustain the President in the exer- 
cise of his constitutional functions to preserve 
the Union, maintain the government and defend 
the Federal Capital." Thus ended the talk of 
compromise, conciliation, concession, and also 
the discussion of the right or wrong of slavery. 
The President in his patient, kindly wisdom 



4 4 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

had substituted the issue of Union, and had 
waited until the Confederacy was the aggres- 
sor. On April 15 he called for 75,000 volun- 
teers and called Congress to convene in extra 
session July 4. 

The response was immediate and resolute. 
The North, glad that the long suspense was 
over, offered hundreds of thousands of men 
for the Union. The Confederates threatened 
to capture Washington and make it the Con- 
federate capital, and for a few days there was 
grave fear that they would do so. The Sixth 
Massachusetts was assaulted by a mob in the 
streets of Baltimore, four soldiers and twelve 
rioters killed and many wounded; and the 
Southern sympathisers in Maryland objected to 
the passing of soldiers through that state. The 
President, as usual conciliatory and patient but 
firm, said, "there is no piece of American 
soil too good to be pressed by the foot of a 
loyal soldier as he marches to the defense of 
the capital of his country." 

Among the President's great tasks then were 
to prevent the secession of any more states, 
to prevent European recognition of the Confed- 
eracy, and to create an army and navy. His 
diplomacy saved for the Union Maryland, Ken- 
tucky and Missouri. 

With increasing confidence and power the 
President watched over men and events; cau- 
tiously and patiently, with mistakes and suc- 
cesses; amid acrid criticism, noisy abuse and 
malignant misrepresentation, he made his slow 
sure way. 

The first disaster at Manassas staggered and 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 45 

steadied the North. The President called to 
the command of the army of the Potomac, Gen- 
eral George B. McClelian, wno nau oceu win- 
ning small successes and sending large tele- 
grams in Western Virginia. He was brilliant, 
bold, spectacular, a good organizer and soon 
trained the strong young raw recruits — farm- 
ers and artisans — into one of the finest armies 
the world had ever witnessed. While McClellan 
was drilling and preparing in the East, Fre- 
mont in the West assumed the authority to is 
sue a proclamation emancipating the slaves of 
all non-Union men in Missouri; an act which 
delighted the abolitionists of the North but 
created consternation in the border states and 
added to the perplexities of the President. In 
order to save for the Union cause the border 
states of Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri the 
President had to revoke the proclamation of 
Fremont and suffer the thoughtless abuse of 
the abolitionists who even talked of impeach- 
ment. They saw only the immediate and moral 
issue of slavery rather than the ultimate politi- 
cal issue of Union — in their premature haste 
to free a few slaves they would have lost the 
whole cause both of freedom and of Union. Lin- 
coln loved freedom as much as they but was 
more wise; nevertheless the patient President 
suffered much from the misunderstanding. His 
patience was never exhausted though terribly 
tried by the unjust criticism from many 
sources, by the piques and prides of new-made 
Generals who felt able to command armies 
though they could not command their own 
tempers; by the impertinent Buell who failed to 



46 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

move into East Tennessee and stop the Con- 
federate depredations against loyal citizens; 
and by the unappreciative McClellan who was 
too young to understand the President's fath- 
erly solicitude, and who drilled and drilled but 
did not go forward to fight. 

In the light of the troubles that the Presi- 
dent had with embryo-Generals one can appre- 
ciate the narrative that a caller finding him 
pondering over some papers asked what he was 
doing and got the reply, "O nothing much — just 
making a few Generals." And once when a 
message bearer gravely told him that the 
enemy had captured a couple of Generals and 
some mules, he replied, "What a pity to lose 
all those mules." 

Bull Run had made the people more cautious 
about crying "on to Richmond," and so all 
Washington took holidays and enjoyed going 
out to see McClellan's grand army manoeuvres — 
all except the President for whom there was 
to be no more joy — no more holidays. To a 
sympathetic friend he replied, "I want not sym- 
pathy for myself but success for our cause." 

Again the wisdom of the President was tested 
and proved in the case of Mason and Sliiell, 
the Confederate commissioners to Great Brit- 
ain, whom a Federal warship had taken frent 
a British mail packet. A British ultimatun de- 
manded immediate restitution and ap©l»gy, 
wkile public sentiment at home demanded that 
they be retained; but the President averted 
trouble with England by sending the commis- 
sioners on their way. 

In the President's message to Congress, some 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 47 

days later, he made no reference at all to this 
affair because he knew when to be silent as 
well as when to explain. 

Evidence of the true greatness and the for- 
giveness of the President and that he put the 
cause far above any personal consideration is 
in the fact of his appointing Edwin M. Stanton 
Secretary of War, to succeed Cameron to whom 
he had given the post as Minister to Russia. 
Stanton was a Democrat, a friend of McClellam, 
and had never ceased to speak of Lincoln with 
that gross abuse with which he had greeted 
Lincoln the lawyer in the McCormick case at 
Cincinnati in 1859. But with all Stanton's in- 
justice to Lincoln — his revilings and his in- 
sults — he accepted the cabinet place when Lin- 
coln offered it to him. But if Stanton was 
truculent, a tyrant and a bully — infinitely more 
important — he was honest and strong in office 
and broke the ring of grafters who had been 
robbing the government, and did his work 
heroically. That was what the President 
wished. And Stanton soon learned as others 
learned that Lincoln was master of every situa- 
tion. Lincoln's friends opposed the appoint- 
ment of Stanton and reminded the President 
of how crudely Stanton had treated him at Cin- 
cinnati, but the President had no thought for 
himself or his own future. He was concerned 
only to get the men who could best serve the 
great cause. 

Lincoln's peculiar fitness for the tremendous 
tribulations of the Presidency at that time is 
further proved by his experiences with the 
recalcitrant McClellan. The General had been 



48 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

drilling and getting ready for six months, — 
both President and public desired action; but 
the General wished to become so fully prepared 
that an assured and decisive victory would end 
the war. The President was patient, persuasive, 
reasonable: the General was querulous, petty 
and sometimes actually insulting. The two 
differed as to their plans for advancing upon 
the Confederates. While the General assumed 
a contempt for the opinions of a civilian, time 
has shown that the President was wise. 

Burdened as the great heart was with the 
weight of the nation, additional sorrows came 
into the White House when his two boys, Willie 
and Tad, fell ill with typhoid fever. By day 
and by night the grief-crazed father divided 
his time between watching the bedside of his 
boys and watching over the struggling nation. 
Though always religious in the deepest sense, 
the death of Willie seemed to strengthen his in- 
sight into the mysteries of the spiritual life. 
For awhile he seemed grief-crazed, and ever 
after, the great soul that had always been com- 
passionate was even more tender in its brood- 
ings over all the people of the nation, both 
South and North, and in many beautiful in- 
stances he softened the severities of war. 

During the early part of the war the North 
was not at all unanimous in its opposition to 
slavery, and could only be united in the purpose 
to save the Union; but slavery could not be 
ignored. From the Southern standpoint the 
war was caused by slavery, and even the Union 
generals were compelled to deal with fugitive 
slaves that came within their lines. Halleck 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 49 

sent them out of camp; Buell and Hooker 
allowed their owners to come and take them; 
Butler held them as "contraband of war." As 
the war dragged on longer than the people had 
anticipated the abolition sentiment in the North 
grew until from press and pulpit there came 
adjurations to "free the slaves." The politicians 
told the President the "will of the people," and 
the preachers told him the "will of God"; but 
the great mind of the President held his own 
counsel, for he knew that the slave-holding but 
loyal border states presented a peculiar prob- 
lem. 

Early in 1862 he recommended to Congress 
the adoption of a joint resolution that the 
"United States co-^operate with any state which 
may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giv- 
ing to such state pecuniary aid." The resolu- 
tion was adopted, but the border states would 
have nothing to do with the plan. Later Gen- 
eral Hunter in proclaiming martial law over 
certain Southern territory, proclaimed "the per- 
sons in these states, heretofore held as slaves, 
forever free." The President revoked the order 
as he had revoked a similar action on the part 
of Fremont, adding firmly, "whether it be 
competent for me as Commander-in-Chief of the 
Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any 
state or states free, and whether at any time, 
in any case, it shall have become a necessity 
of government to exercise such supposed power, 
are questions which, under my responsibility, I 
reserve to myself." And again he appealed to 
the people of the border states to adopt his plan 
of gradual compensated emancipation, proved 



50 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

the wisdom of his plan by unanswerable logic, 
and showed that the cost of such compensation 
was much less than the cost of the probable 
prolongation of the war. The loyal slave-hold- 
ers of the border states were not ready to give 
up their slaves. 

Then the President began to contemplate 
emancipation, but kept his purposes to himself; 
kept his secret so well that even after he had 
determined upon emancipation and was being 
criticised for not taking that step he replied 
to his critics, "My paramount object is to save 
the Union and not either to save or destroy 
slavery." Horace Greeley retorted with abuse, 
indicating that Greeley was unable to see the 
wisdom of the President's policy — for those 
whose support was necessary to win the war 
were not yet ready for emancipation. 

When preachers called to reveal to him, "the 
will of God" he replied, "If it is probable that 
God would reveal His will to others on a point 
so connected with my duty, it might be sup- 
posed He would reveal it directly to me," 

All these months he had been at work with 
his slow but accurate thought, framing in secret 
the most momentous document in American 
history since the Declaration of Independence. 
He did this in the cipher-room of the War De- 
partment telegraph office, where he was ac- 
customed to spend anxious hours waiting for 
news from the boys at the front, and also to 
seek what rest he could in thus hiding away 
from the never-ending stream of tormentors, 
office-seekers, politicians and emissaries of sage 
advice. 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 51 

Emancipation was in his mind even while, 
for good reasons, he made no reference to it. 
He waited for the right time — waited for vic- 
tory — waited in great patience and great 
anguish. And when he did first announce his 
purpose of emancipation it was to apply only 
to those "persons held as slaves within any 
state or designated part of a state the people 
whereof shall then be in rebellion against tke 
United States." Thus sparing the loyal border 
states holding slaves, and allowing a way of 
escape for others that should cease their rebel- 
lion. It was conservative but wise. On the 
one hand the radical abolitionists were not 
satisfied, and on the other hand the masses 
were not all ready to give him hearty support 
in it. But he said, "I must do the be^t I can 
and bear the responsi'oility ci taking tko caurse 
which I think I ought to take." It was thus 
this silent self-reliant man, without intimates, 
without supporting friends, bore almsst alone 
on his resolute shoulders, the mighty weight of 
responsibility. Once more he urged upon Con- 
gress his old policy of gradual compensated 
emancipation. He plead: — "We say that ws 
are for the Union. The world will not forget 
that we say this. We know how to save the 
Union. The world knows that we know how to 
save it. We — even we here — hold the power 
and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom 
to the slave we assure freedom to the free, — 
honorable alike in what we give and what we 
preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose 

THE LAST BEST HOPE OF EAETH. Other mcaUS 

may succeed, this cannot fail. The way is 



52 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

peaceful; generous; just; a way which, if fol- 
lowed, the world will forever applaud and God 
must forever bless." But they would not, and 
the lonely man in the White House, — kind eyes 
more deeply sunken, bronze face more deeply 
furrowed, sad tones more deeply affected — went 
about his duties asking sympathy nor counsel 
of anyone. 

On New Year's Day, 1863, after the great re- 
ception v/as over, he signed the final Proclama- 
tion of Emancipation. Though at home there 
was still ridicule and abuse, in England the 
effect of the Proclamation was significant; for 
there the laboring men were in dire distress be- 
cause they could get no cotton for their mills; 
but these English laborers — hearing of the 
Emancipation Proclamation— felt that the cause 
of the Union was the cause of freedom and of 
labor — and though the wealthy mill-owners of 
England, who were not suffering would, some 
of them, gladly have destroyed the Union and 
perpetuated slavery to get cotton; the laborers 
— even while starving — brought pressure to 
bear upon the English government to prevent 
further aid to the Confederacy, heroically pre- 
ferring starvation in the cause of freedom. Lin- 
coln referred to these actions on the part of 
England's laborers as "an instance of Christian 
heroism which has not been surpassed in any 
age or any country." And later those English 
laborers built a monument to Lincoln on which 
they inscribed, "Lover of Humanity." 

Everyone but Lincoln had lost patience with 
McClellan's overcautiousness and when he 
failed to follow Lee's retreat from Antietam, 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 53 

Lincoln removed him and placed in command 
Burnside, whose defeat at Fredericksburg 
caused him to be replaced by Hooker, whose 
defeat at Chancellorsville caused him to be re- 
placed by Meade, who disappointed the Presi- 
dent in not following up the victory at Gettys- 
burg. 

July 4, 1863, Gettysburg and Vicksburg, de- 
cisive victories, coming together should havei 
ended the war. The Confederates could not win 
after that, but still they fought on. On Novem- 
ber 19, 1863, the National Cemetery at the bat- 
tlefield of Gettysburg was dedicated; and after 
Edward Everett had delivered the formal ora- 
tion of the occasion, Lincoln delivered the most 
notable short speech that has ever been deliv- 
ered in the English language. A copy of Lin- 
coln's Gettysburg Address is given in another 
volume of this series called "Speeches of Lin- 
coln." 

The tide has turned but much costly fighting 
Is still necessary, first in East Tennessee, and 
later in Virginia, and also Sherman must fight 
his way into the very heart of the South and 
break its lines of communication before the 
resolute Confederates will yield. 

In the West, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Pitts- 
burgh Landing, and Vicksburg were the vic- 
tories that made Grant known as the most suc- 
cessful Union general. The President advanced 
him to the rank of Lien9 3nant General, brought 
him East, placed him in command of all the 
armies, and gave him the task of beating Lee, 
taking Richmond and ending the war. 



54 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

In the fall of 1864, notwithstanding some 
opposition, Lincoln was re-elected President. 
Again during this campaign, his attitude 
toward his critics and his opponents attested 
still further his true greatness, magnanimity 
and devotion to duty. Though he desired to be 
re-elected he would make no effort toward that 
end, but instead gave his entire energies to the 
work of saving the Union. Chase in the cabinet 
was an open candidate against his chief. Lin- 
coln proved that he had no resentment by later 
appointing Chase as Chief Justice in the place 
of the aged Roger B. Taney who died. When 
friends told the President that he would surely 
be defeated for re-election if he approved 
another draft of soldiers, he replied that the 
cause did not require his re-election but did re- 
quire more soldiers — and at once ordered a new 
draft for 500,000 additional men. 

Lincoln breathed a most beautiful spirit of 
forgiveness in his Second Inaugural Address 
which is printed in full in the volume of this 
series, "Speeches of Lincoln." 

In March, 1865, Grant sent a message saying 
that he was about to close in on Lee and end 
the war, and invited Lincoln to visit Grant's 
headquarters. And that is how it was that the 
President, being at" Grant's headquarters, could 
enter Richmond the day after the Confederates 
retreated. So Lincoln, with his small son Tad 
and Admiral Porter, escorted by a little group 
of sailors, simply, on foot, entered the aban- 
doned capital, not as one bringing the ven- 
geance of a conqueror, but the love of a libera- 
tor. One of the great moments of all history 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 55 

was when an aged negro, baring his white 
wool, made reverent obeisance to the Presi- 
dent, and Lincoln in recognition took off his 
high hat. 

He remained two days in Richmond discuss- 
ing the plans for the restoration of federal au- 
thority, counseling kindness and forgiveness. 
"Let them down easy," he said to the military 
governor; "get them to plovv^ing and gathering 
in their own little crops." Thus he was pre- 
paring to "bind up the nation's wounds," with 
a spiritual development so far beyond his 
contemporaries that they could not even under- 
stand him. 

Then he went back to Washington where he 
heard of Lee's surrender, and two days later, 
to a large crowd at the White House, delivered 
a carefully prepared speech outlining his policy 
of reconstruction, such as he had already begun 
in Louisiana. Already he was being criticised 
for being "too kind to the rebels." 

That was the last speech he ever made. 

Little Tad said, "Father has never been happy 
since we came to Washington." His laughter 
had failed, he had aged rapidly, his shoulders 
were bent, dreadful dreams had haunted him 
and on the night of the 13th he had one which 
oppressed him. But the next day was the fourth 
anniversary of the evacuation of Fort Sumpter, 
— Good Friday, April 14. And at last he was 
happy, sharing Vv'ith his people the joy that 
came with the end of the war. 

He took a drive with Mrs. Lincoln and they 
planned for the future — they would save a lit- 
tle money and go back to Springfield and he 



56 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

would practice law again. To his wife this 
unnatural joy was portentous — she remem- 
bered that he had been like this just before 
little Willie died. In the evening they went to 
Ford's Theatre. Stanton tried to dissuade them 
because the secret service had heard rumors 
of assassination. Because Stanton insisted on 
a guard Major Rathbone was along. At 9 
o'clock the party entered the President's box 
— the President was very happy — at 10:20 a 
shot was heard — Major Rathbone sprang to 
grapple with the assassin and was slashed with 
a dagger. The assassin fell as he sprang from 
the box to the stage, where he brandished 
hi» bloody dagger, yelled with terrible theatri- 
calism, "sic semper tyrannis,'' and stalking 
lamely from the platform disappeared in the 
darkness and rode away. The President was 
unconscious from the first, and as they bore 
him from the theatre a lodger from a house 
across the street said "Take him up to my 
room," where he lay unconscious until next 
morning when he ceased to breathe; and Stan- 
ton at his bedside said, "Now he belongs to the 
Ages." 

Someone had recognized the assassin as 
John Wilkes Booth, an actor, a fanatic in the 
Southern cause. And in killing Lincoln he 
did his people of the South the greatest pos- 
sible harm. 

The North had been decorated with celebra- 
tion of victory; now it was bowed and dazed 
with grief and rage. Those that had abused 
him and maligned him and opposed him now 
came to understand him as in a new light 



LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 57 

they saw him transfigured by his great sac- 
rifices. 

They reverently folded the body in the flag 
and carried it first to the White House and 
then to the Capitol where it lay in state; and 
then they began that long journey back to 
Springfield over the very route he had come 
on his way to the Capital in 1861. Everywhere 
in cities and in towns great crowds gathered, 
heedless of night or rain or storm, and even 
as the train sped over the open country at 
night little groups of farmers could be seen 
by the roadside in the dim light watching for 
the train and waving their lanterns in a sad 
farewell. 

Whatever anger and resentment the North, 
may have felt, the weeping thousands who 
looked upon the face of Lincoln as it was 
borne homeward saw only forgiveness and 
peace. 

But his beautiful dream of amnesty was not 
to be realized. Mutual forgiveness and re- 
conciliation were ideals too high for many of 
his contemporaries at that time, and their 
spirit of revenge bore its inevitable fruit of 
injustice and bitterness in the days of recon- 
struction that followed. How different it 
might all have been had Lincoln continued to 
live. How his great influence would have 
helped in the solution of the nation's prob- 
lems after the war. A besotted wretch snuffed 
out the most important life on earth that day. 

Misguided men of his time ridiculed him be- 
cause they were unable to comprehend his 
lofty ideals or see the practical wisdom of his 



58 LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

great purposes. They measured him by their 
own puny standards and in condemning him 
only condemned themselves. His sad life, his 
tragic death, his immortal glory are one with 
all the reformers, prophets and saviors of the 
world. As war scenes receded, as men's prej- 
udices cooled, as the mighty issues were bet- 
ter understood, men came to see how truly 
great he was. He finished successfully the 
most important and most difficult task ever 
bequeathed to one mortal man. in all history. 



TEN CENT POCKET SERIES 



59 



Other Titles in Pocket Series 



Brama 

46 Salome. Oscar "Wilde. 
BO Pillars of Society. 
Ibsen. 
181 Redemption, Tolstoi. 

99 Tartuffe. Moliere. 

54 Importance of Being 
Earnest. Oscar Wilde. 
81 Pelleas and Melisande. 
Maeterlinck. 
8 Lady Windermere's 
Fan. Oscar Wilde. 
226 Prof. Bernhardi. 
Schnitzler. 

Fiction 

6 De Maupassant's 
Stories. 

15 Balzac's Stories. 
178 One of Cleopatra's 
Nights. Gautier. 

58 Boccaccio's Stories. 

45 Tolstoi's Stories. 

12 Poe's Tales. 
14 5 Great Ghost Stories. 

21 Carmen. Merimee. 

38 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. 
Hyde. 

27 Last Days of a Con- 
demned Man. Hugo. 
151 Man Who Would Be 
King. Kipling. 

47 He Renounced the 
Faith. Jack London. 

41 Christmas Carol. 

57 Rip Van Winkle. 

100 Red Laugh. Andreyev. 
148 Strength of the 

Strong. London. 
105 Seven That Were 
Hanged. Andreyev. 



102 Sherlock Holmes Tales. 
161 Country of the Blina. 
H. G. Wells. 
85 Attack on the Mill. 
Zela. 
156 Andersen's Fairy Tales. 
158 Alice in Wonderland. 
37 Dream of John Bull. 
40 House and the Brain. 
72 Color of Life. E. 
Haldeman-Julius. 
198 Majesty of Justice. 

Anatole France. 
215 The Miraculous Re- 
venge. Bernard Shaw. 
24 The Kiss and Other 
Stories. Chekhov. 
219 The Human Tragedy. 

Anatole France. 
196 The Marquise. Sand. 
230 The Fleece of Gold. 

Theophile Gautier. 
232 Three Strangers. 

Hardy. 
239 Twenty-Six Men and a 
Girl. Maxium Gorki. 
29 Dreams. Schreiner. 

History, Biography 

126 History of Rome. 
12 8 Caesar: Who He Was. 
185 History of Printing. 
175 Science of History. 

Froude. 
52 Voltaire. Victor Hugo. 
125 War Speeches of 

Woodrow Wilson. 
142 Bismarck and the 

German Empire. 
51 Bruno: His Life and 

Martyrdom. 
147 Cromwell and His Day. 



60 



TEN CENT POCKET SERIES 



236 State and Heart Af- 
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50 Paine's Common Sense. 
88 Vindication of Paine. 

Ingersoll. 
33 Smasher of Shams. 

163 Sex Life in Greece and 
Rome. 

214 Speeches of Lincoln. 

144 Was Poe Immoral? 
Whitman. 

104 Battle of Waterloo. 
Victor Hugo. 

159 Lincoln and the Work- 
ing Class. 

223 Essay on Swinburne. 
Quiller-Couch. 

229 Diderot. Ellis. 

22 7 Keats. The Man. His 
Work and His Friends. 

201 Satan and the Saints. 
H. M. Tichenor. 
67 Church History. 
Tichenor. 

169 Voices From the Past. 
Tichenor. 

139 Life of Dante. 

Humor 

18 Idle Thoughts of an 

Idle Fellow. Jerome. 
20 Let's Laugh. Nasbv. 
166 English as She Is ' 

Spoke. Mark Twain. 
205 Artemus Ward. His 

Book. 
187 Whistler's Humor. 
216 Wit of Heinrich 

Heine. Geo. Eliot. 
231 8 Humorous Sketches. 

Mark Twain, 

Literature 

97 Love Letters of King 
Henry VHI. 



36 Soul of Man Under 
Socialism. O. Wilde. 

28 Toleration. Voltaire. 

89 Love Letters of Men 
and Women of Genius. 

87 Love. Montaigne. 

48 Bacon's Essays. 

60 Emerson's Essays. 

84 Love Letters of a Nun. 
26 On Going to Church. 
Shaw. 

61 Tolstoi's Essays. 
176 Four Essays. Ellis. 
160 Shakespeare. Ingersoll. 
186 How I Write "The 

Raven." Poe. 

75 Choice of Books. 
Carlyle. 

76 Prince of Peace. Bryan. 
86 On Reading. Brandes. 
95 Confessions of An 

Opium Eater. 
188 How Voltaire Fooled 
Priest and King. 
3 18 Essays. Voltaire. 
213 Lincoln. Ingersoll. 
183 Realism in Art and 
Literature. Darrow. 
177 Subjection of Wome». 
John Stuart Mill. 
17 On Walking. Thoreau. 
70 Lamb's Essays. 
135 Socialism for Milliom- 

aires. G. B. Shaw. 
235 Essays. G. K. 
Chesterton. 
7 A Liberal Education. 
Thomas Huxley. 
233 Thoughts on Literature 

and Art. Goethe. 
225 Condescension in For- 
eigners. J. R. Lowell. 
221 Women, and Other 

Essays. Maeterlinck. 
218 Essays. Jean Jaures. 
10 Shelley. P. Thompsoi*. 



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61 



Maxims and Epigrams 

56 Wisdom of IngersoU. 
106 Aphorisms. Geo. Sand. 
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154 Epigrams of Ibsen. 
197 Witticisms. De Sevigne. 

180 Epigrams. G. B. Shaw. 

155 Maxims. Napoleon. 

113 Proverbs of England. 

114 Proverbs of France. 

115 Proverbs of Japan. 

116 Proverbs of China. 

117 Proverbs of Italy. 

118 Proverbs of Russia. 

119 Proverbs of Ireland. 

120 Proverbs of Spain. 

121 Proverbs of Arabia. 

181 Epigrams. Thoreau. 
628 Aphorisms. Huxley. 

Philosophy, Religion 

62 Schopenhauer's Essays. 
94 Trial and Death of 

Socrates. 
65 Meditations of Marcus 

Aurelius. 
44 Aesop's Fables. 
165 Discovery of the Fu- 
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96 Dialogues of Plato. 
103 Pocket Theology. 

Voltaire. 
132 Foundations of 

Religion. 
138 Studies in Pessimism. 
Schopenhauer. 

211 Idea of God in Nature. 
John Stuart Mill. 

212 Life and Character. 
Goethe. 

800 Ignorant Philosopher. 
Voltaire. 



101 Thouffhts of Pascal. 
207 Olympian Gods. 

H. M. Ticlienor. 
210 The Stoic Philosophy. 

Prof. Gilbert Murray. 
220 Essays on New Testa- 
ment. Blatchford. 
224 God: Known and 

Unknown. Butler. 
19 Nietzsche. Who He 

Was and What He 

Stood For. 
204 Sun Worship and Later 

Beliefs. Tichenor. 
184 Primitive Beliefs. 

H. M. Tichenor. 



Poetry 



1 Rubaiyat of Omar 
Khayyam. 

73 Whitman's Poems. 

2 Wilde's Reading Jail. 
32 Poe's Poems. 

164 Micliaei Aiigelo's 
Sonnets. 
71 Poems of Evolution. 
146 Snow-Bouna, Pied 
Piper. 
9 Great English Poems. 
79 Enoch Arden. 

Tennyson. 
68 Shakespeare's Sonnets. 
173 Vision of Sir Launfal. 
222 The Vampire and 

Other Poems. Kiplinsr. 
237 Prose Poems, 
Baudelaira. 

Science 

190 Psycho-Analysia — 

The Key to Human Be- 
havior. Fielding. 

49 Three Lectures on 
Evolution. Haeckel. 

42 From Monkey to Ma'^ 



62 



TEN CENT POCKET SERIES 



238 Reflections on Modern 
Science. Huxley. 

202 Survival of the Fittest. 
H. M. Tichenor. 

191 Evolution vs. Religion. 
Balmforth. 

133 Electricity Explained. 
92 Hypnotism Made Plain. 
53 Insects and Men: In- 
stinct and Reason, 
Darrow. 

189 Eugenics. Ellis. 

107 How to Strengthen 
Mind and Memory. 

108 How to Develop a 
Healthy Mind. 

109 How to Develop a 
Strong Will. 

110 How to Develop a 
Magnetic Personality. 

111 How to Attract 
Friends. 

112 How to Be a Leader of 
Others. 

140 Biology and Spiritual 
Philosophy. Tichenor. 

Series of Debates 

11 Debate on Religion. 
John H. Holmes and 
George Bowne. 
39 Did Jesus Ever Live? 

130 Controversy on Chris- 
tianity. Ingersoll and 
Gladstone. 
43 Marriage and Divorce. 
Horace Greeley and 
Robert Owen. 

208 Debate on Birth Con- 
trol. Mrs. Sanger and 
AVinter Russell. 

121 Rome or Reason. In- 
gersoll and Manning. 

12 2 Spiritualism. Conau 
Doyle and McCabe. 

171 Has Life Meaning? 



206 Capitalism vs. Social- 
ism. Seligman and 
Nearing. 

13 Is Free Will a Fact on 
a Fallacy? 

234 McNeal-Sinclair De- 
bate on Socialism. 

Miscellaneous 

192 Book of Synonyms. 
25 Rhyming Dictionary. 
78 How to Be an Orator. 

82 Common Faults in 
Writing English. 

127 What Expectant Moth- 
ers Should Know. 
81 Care of the Baby. 

136 Child Training. 

137 Home Nursing. 

14 What Every Girl 
Should Know. Mr?. 
Sanger. 

34 Case for Birth Control. 
91 Manhood: Facts of 
Life Presented to Men. 

83 Marriage Past, Pres- 
ent and Future. 
Besant. 

74 On Threshold of Sex. 
98 How to Love. 
172 Evolution of Love. 

Key. 
203 Rights of Women. 

Ellis. 
209 Aspects of Birth Con- 
trol. Medical, Moral, 
Sociological. 
143 Pope Leo on Socialism. 
152 Foundations of Labor 
Movement. Phillips. 
30 What Life Means to 

Me. Jack London. 
93 How to Live 100 Years. 
167 Plutarch on Health. 



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